---

Prompt: “When A Stranger Calls”

Pairing: Tao/Kris

Words: ~1500

---

 

Kris sighs to himself, finally free of those stupid kids running amuck. Finally free to flick through Suho’s endless television channels and find something his stupid free-to-air doesn’t offer. EXO-K is a piece of work. All of them are younger than him, and all of them equally act younger than him. Kris swears half of them are five year olds trapped in teenager’s bodies.

 

Chanyeol and that toy airplane (which he constantly launches into the back of Kris’ head), Kai and his constant need to dance on the furniture (leaving shoeprints and scuff marks on Suho’s leather lounge; he won’t be happy when he gets back), Baekhyun with his makeup obsession (Kris cannot recall how many times he’s wiped eyeliner off the white painted walls), Sehun’s constant need for food (he eats everything, even the food meant for Kris so Kris has to buy himself even more to feed the others), and finally Kyungsoo.

 

Well, Kyungsoo’s not so bad, but that face he constantly makes annoys Kris to no end (and he gets out of hand when he’s had sugar and decides to join Kai in his furniture abuse).

 

The boys are all upstairs, all asleep, and Kris relishes in the fact that he’s got a little down time, at least until Suho and his date from EXO-M, Lay, get back for the night. Then he can leave, and return back to his dorm with Tao.

 

God, how he wishes to be with Tao.

 

They haven’t had a solid day together in weeks, and Kris wishes more than anything to curl up next to Tao and not have to worry about getting up early for a rehearsal of the dance steps or yet another recording session because the one before wasn’t good enough. Of course, Kris doesn’t regret for a minute his career choice, but a little down time is welcome.

 

Once Kris has found a channel to his liking, he sits the remote on the lounge next to him, reclining into the chair. He places both arms behind his head and leans back, kicking his shoes off before he drapes his legs across the coffee table. Suho would probably lose it at him if he were here, but he’s not, and Kris checks the time. He won’t be back for at least another hour. Not much longer, but still an agonizing amount of time this late at night. Kris hopes Tao hasn’t stayed up for him.

 

There’s a loud ring, and Kris glances down to the table. He sees his mobile buzzing, and he scoops it up in his hand, looking at the screen. Unknown caller ID. Kris shrugs, hitting the answer button before pressing the device to his ear. He frowns when all he hears is raspy breathing.

 

“Have you checked the children?” comes a deep, chilling male voice.

 

“Hello?” Kris responds.

 

But it’s too late, the other person has hung up, and Kris is left guessing. He tosses the phone onto the lounge next to him and shrugs. It could have been Suho, checking up on him. Most likely Suho trying to call him to see if he’s told EXO-K to sleep, the phone cutting off mid-sentence. That must be it. Kris rolls around on the lounge, finding the optimal seating position before chuckling, curling his toes up underneath him. Suho hates it when smelly feet get on his lounge, which is probably why Kai likes to dance on them daily, just to spite him. But Suho is so soft a leader he can’t control the little .

 

Kris jumps as the phone rings again. He picks it up, holding it to his ear.

 

“Have you checked the children?” the voice repeats.

 

“Suho?” Kris calls.

 

Nothing, just raspy breathing and Kris’ pounding heart as the phone clicks off once again. Kris isn’t taking chances this time. He hits redial, hearing static as the phone picks up and the voice on the other line chortles at him.

 

“Why haven’t you checked the children?”

 

“Who is this?”

 

“You should check the children.”

 

Kris furrows his brow, immediately hitting disconnect as his fingers fumble the keyboard, typing in Seoul’s regional police number. He hears the familiar ring and his eyes widen once the person on the other end has picked up.

 

“Hello, Seoul police.”

 

“Hi,” he says, breath raspy. Kris explains what has happened to the operator, and the operator continually tells Kris to calm down, to try and steady his breathing.

 

“Has he threatened you?” a kind yet authoritative voice calls from the other line.

 

“No…” Kris breathes.

 

“But I think he can see me. I think he’s watching.” The operator lets out a stream of cuss words and Kris thinks he’s starting to hyperventilate.

 

“Hey, it’ll be OK! What’s your name?”

 

“Kris.”

 

“OK, Kris. Give me your phone number and street address and we’ll have someone sent your way as soon as we possibly can. Put me on hold and call the man again. If you can get him on the line for a minute, we might be able to trace it.”

 

Kris whispers a thanks and hits the redial, flinching as the unknown man picks up again, voice raspy and connection full of static. He get up off the couch, shaking. He walks over to the light switch and turns it down, hoping that by doing so he’ll better be able to see in the dark out the window of Suho’s apartment block. He’s only on the second storey, and the window overlooks the street below. If anyone’s watching him, it’s from there.

 

“Why did you turn the lights down?” the man breathes.

 

“Can you see me?” Kris squeaks into the phone.

 

There’s a long pause.

 

“Yes.”

 

Kris runs a hand through his hair, agitatedly kicking the wall next to him. He leaves a scuffmark behind, but Kris doesn’t care at all anymore what Suho will think. Maybe he’ll clean it later, but at the moment he’s got other more pressing matters to attend to.

 

“Look, I’m terrified, alright?” Kris tells the man.

 

“You’ve scared the out of me and I’m shaking! Is this what you wanted?”

 

Another long pause.

 

“No.”

 

“What do you want from me!?” Kris all but screams into the line.

 

“Your blood. Your blood all over me.”

 

Kris shrieks as the phone falls from his hand and thuds loudly on the ground. It rings not seconds later, and Kris picks it up quickly, shouting into it.

 

“Leave me the alone, please!” he screams.

 

“Kris, it’s the police!” the familiar voice calls. Kris breathes a sigh of relief.

 

“We traced the call! You have to get out of there, he’s in another room of the house!”

 

Kris can barely process this as he stands, completely shaken and too terrified to move. He can hear sirens in the street below, and the flashing of red and blue lights illuminates the windows. The phone rings again, snapping Kris out of his stupor.

 

“Why aren’t you running?” the man’s voice rasps.

 

Kris screams, booking it for the door. He fumbles with the lock, cursing Suho for being so over the top with his security for the apartment. It’s not like they’re here all the time anyway! Kris finally manages to pry the door open, but out of the corner of his eye he sees a figure standing in the corridor, beside the room Baekhyun and Chanyeol share. Light floods from the room, illuminating the figure.

 

Kris screams as the figure steps forward, his mouth forming a large ‘O’ as he makes out the features, the man covered in a red liquid of sorts that resembles blood. He finds his back pressed to the unopened door, unable to move out or forward, completely caged in. He can barely process thoughts anymore.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

“ CHEN!”

 

His bandmate lets out a barrage of melodious laughter and Kris finds himself shrinking to the floor, drawing his knees in. Baekhyun and Chanyeol round the corner behind Chen, laughing their heads off. By this stage Kris has tears pricking in his eyes, so tired and scared and confused.

 

He spots Tao behind Chen and he runs over to him, making sure to smash into Chen’s arm in the process. He bashes his head into Tao’s chest and he stays there, clinging to the shorter Chinese boy for dear life.

 

“How could you guys do this to me?” he cries.

 

Tao gives him a reassuring pat on the shoulder, pulling him into a much deserved hug.

 

“It was Chen’s idea,” he explains.

 

“Chen and Xiumin.”

 

Kris growls at his band mate, giving him the finger. Tao giggles a little as he takes Kris’ hand leading him back to the couch. He sits down calmly, but he’s still shaking, that stupid cartoon is still on.

 

“Good luck explaining this to the police Chen. You scared the out of me!”

 

"You called the police?" Chen asks in horror.

 

"I was scared less you ! What do you think I'd do?"

 

And just like that, a tall man with dark eyes barges into the room, kicking down the front door. He an eyebrow when he realises that he’s hardly alone, training his gun to the floor.

 

“What the hell is going on?” he yells, and Chen’s smile immediately drops.

 

“Sorry officer, a bit of a misunderstanding,” Chen says, holding his hands up in the air.

 

“Practical joke for Kris’ birthday.”